The current chief White House correspondent is Chip Reid who, according to Politico, “will become a national correspondent based in Washington, ‘with greater editorial range.’ ” That last bit is Politico’s quote of CBS, but the official announcement (the full text follows the Politico piece) said nothing about Chip Reid — didn’t even mention him.

O’Donnell will also be the first alternate for Bob Schieffer, the anchor of Face the Nation; plus, she will be a contributor at 60 Minutes as well.

Obviously, this is a major career move for O’Donnell, and more power to her. I don’t know that much about her, but from what I’ve seen of her reporting on MSNBC, she is not the sycophantic type. Chip Reid is not exactly known for challenging official spin, so I can’t say I’m sorry to see him go.

This news, along with CBS’s choice of Scott Pelley to replace Katie Couric on the Evening News, makes me think that maybe CBS is going for the Serious Journalism Network spot.